THE INFLUENCE OF CULTURE AND ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE DELIVERY AS PREDICTORS OF HEALTH BEHAVIOURS AMONG MALAYSIANS OF DIFFERENT CULTURAL BACKGROUNDS

Abstract

Changing a person’s health behavior is a daunting task. This crosssectional study aimed at finding the influence of culture and delivery of health care as predictors of health behavior (such as diet, physical activity, sleeping and smoking) among Malaysians. A questionnaire survey was conducted among 459 respondents consisting of Chinese, Malays, and Indians. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as mean and standard deviation as well as multiple regression. Results show that culture predicted diet (unstandardized coefficient of 0.39, a t-value of 8.81) and sleeping (unstandardized coefficient of 0.41, a t-value of 5.30). Accessibility to health care delivery had a negative influence on diet (unstandardized coefficient of -0.07, a t-value of -2.31) and sleeping (unstandardized coefficient of -0.10, a t-value of -0.08). However, access to health care had a positive influence on physical activity (p < 0.05 < 0.01). Findings suggest that health promotion is a complex undertaking, one that requires understanding of the culture of the population.